So some folks are tired of seeing Hendrick Motorsports cars win all the Nextel Cup races and would like to see NASCAR's top series shaken up a bit?

Well, the truth of the matter is that Hendrick has been shaking things up all along. And that is one of the secrets to the organization's dominance of the Cup Series thus far in 2007. Hendrick was one of the first NASCAR operations to invest large amounts of time and money in its own on-site seven-post shaker rig -- the latest hot technological toy that engineers, car owners and drivers alike are now crediting with providing many of the keys that lead to consistent success on all types of tracks.

Hendrick's cars have won nine of the first 12 Nextel Cup races. Prior to one of those triumphs earlier this season, driver Jeff Gordon made the comment that all the work on the seven-post shaker back at the shop was really starting to pay off. Then he talked about how it took the Hendrick organization more than a year to figure out how to translate the data they were receiving from the machine, and then even more time after that to figure out how to apply that data to various on-track adjustments at different racing venues.

The bottom line: the Hendrick guys are getting useful information from a testing simulation device that many other teams either haven't figured out yet or don't even have in their shops, with little or no prospect of getting one anytime soon.

"They've become more important than I think my engineering department thought they would, quite honestly," said car owner Ray Evernham, who does not have a seven-post rig installed at Evernham Motorsports. "At first you look at it and you think, ah, it's no big deal. But the people that are running fast have found something in them.

"Childress was the first one to have one. Richard put one in years ago. He got going on it, and then Hendrick. Ginn [Racing] just put one in. ... That machine can be a million and a half to two million dollars, so it's a tough thing for a lot of teams just to go and put one in. And even then, they say it takes a year to get it up and going."

So what is a seven-post shaker rig exactly?

You can call it up on the Internet and get a seven-page printout that explains it in such great detail that your eyes are watering by the time you've read three paragraphs. But basically it is a machine that can simulate the different characteristics of various tracks and help improve how a car -- whether it is a current Cup car, a Car of Tomorrow or something in between from another series -- will handle on that track.

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Grip has become such a huge issue with the current Goodyear tires, and NASCAR has attempted to cut back on so much of the testing at actual tracks, that the shaker has taken on a new level of importance. The rig allows engineers to simulate conditions as a car rolls through a turn, and can repeat the process over and over and over again while changing everything on the car's setup from the shocks, springs, sway bars, tire pressures, nose weight and so on until a combination is found that will give the driver the best feel and grip.

J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said his organization installed one two and a half years ago and still struggles sometimes to make sense of it all in a way that pays dividends on race day.

"It's not an exact science. Sometimes it can drive you a little crazy, trying to figure out exactly what you've got [in terms of the data it provides]," Gibbs said.

While Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing and Richard Childress Racing have had seven-post shakers at their shops for two years or more, and upstart Ginn Racing also has one, owner Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing recently lamented the fact that he only now is preparing to install one.

And lesser-funded teams such as Petty Enterprises and Evernham Motorsports are left wondering what if. They can and do rent seven-post time on a regular basis -- at $15,000 per session. But it's not the same as having one right at their fingertips 24/7 like the others, and they all know it.

Chip Ganassi Racing has a huge, gleaming, stark-white race shop that looks to be the envy of all of NASCAR at first glance. But they don't have a seven-post shaker rig, and lead engineer John Fernandez said that they now find themselves in a Catch-22 position.

"We wish we had one. But we're spending a lot of time on a [rented] seven-post shaker," Fernandez said. "Even being an elite-level team -- and I think we're up there with the top guys -- still we're limited with resources.

"We haven't gotten over the hump in terms of being a winning, championship-level team. And the way in which the reward systems are, if you run up front, you get more money, you get more of a revenue stream coming in -- and you can do more in terms of development. So we suffer a little bit in terms of that. We get over that hump and start winning some races and that revenue starts coming in, and everything should start to feed on itself, basically.

"Are we going to be behind because we don't know about seven-posts? No, because we're on 'em right now. It's just a matter of you've got to rent the time; it takes the time to go there, depending on where you're going. So it's a longer, more drawn-out process than if I can walk down the hall and into a room that has the seven-post shaker."

Like the folks at, say, Hendrick Motorsports can do every day now -- and have been able to do for quite some time. It leaves Robbie Loomis, vice president of Petty Enterprises, wondering sometimes if his organization will ever be able to catch up.

"The seven-post is the new thing," Loomis said. "But you needed one two years ago, not to just be getting one now. We've got it on our big list of things we'd like to have. But we don't have it in our inventory yet, and once you get it, it takes a while to figure out how to use it and how to get the benefits out of it.

"I like to refer it to being like someone who is off their leg for a while [because of an injury] and you've got to rehabilitate it. If you get behind a year, it takes three years to get caught back up.

"By the time you get one, something new could be out and you're always chasing. That's where you have to be a visionary and that's where Mr. Hendrick has been able to do a great job with his organization as a whole. They're always looking far enough ahead to keep doing it. That's what we're trying to do with Petty Enterprises, but we're also always trying to balance the dollar to maximize the growth."

Evernham soberly admitted that renting time on a seven-post shaker on even a fairly regular basis is nowhere near the same as having one in your own shop. But even as he courts a new source of revenue in investor George Gillet, whom Evernham may take on as a partner, he wonders when and if he'll ever get one.

"It is different than when you can be on them all the time," Evernham said. "But look, the big teams are always going to be good and a little ahead of the curve on some of this stuff. The challenge is no different than in any other business. America is a free country. I can't stand here and complain, 'Woe is me because Rick Hendrick has a shaker machine and I don't.' I've got to stand here and say, 'How do I get the resources to beat Rick Hendrick?'

"He's earned what he's got. Richard Childress has earned what he's got. Joe Gibbs has earned what he's got. And I've got to earn what I get. I've only been in business seven years. I've just got to dig my heels in hope that people like George Gillet can help me get to where these guys are."

Until then, it's likely the top tier in Nextel Cup racing will remain shaken, but not stirred.